The Touch of God

Something is very wrong here in chapter 10 of Daniel. The end of Israel’s captivity was near. Jeremiah had prophesied it; Daniel had read about it in Jeremiah, and he knows it is the end. But the end of captivity is not the crisis. Although Daniel knows that end is near, he also has been told that great hardship still lies ahead for the people of God. Generations of war and suffering are ahead, and that message throws Daniel. Things should be getting better, but they are getting worse. How can he keep going? He cannot eat; he mourns for three weeks. Daniel needs some assurance of God’s continuing care, but comfort seems distant and impossible.

What happens next is critical for understanding how God comforts Daniel and keeps him able to do as he must. A man, dressed in linen with a gold sash, appears. Who is that?